


On a Scale of 1 to 365

by thatpeculiarone



Series: thatpeculiarone's bingo series [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Deaf Dean Winchester, First Meetings, M/M, Misunderstandings, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25242262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatpeculiarone/pseuds/thatpeculiarone
Summary: Cas Novak and Dean Winchester have been neighbours for 364 days... and they haven't spoken once.But on the 365th day, something happens.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: thatpeculiarone's bingo series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947103
Comments: 50
Kudos: 452





	On a Scale of 1 to 365

**Author's Note:**

> **DISCLAIMER:** I am not d/Deaf but I did put a lot of work into making this as accurate as possible. If anything is deemed as offensive, please let me know! Also, dialogue may seem 'stilted' throughout but that is because elaborate English conversations with descriptive words are just not translatable into ASL! 
> 
> This is an unbeta'd fic.
> 
> PART 2 OF MY BINGO SERIES: **Neighbours**
> 
> (I'm Australian hence the 'u' in 'neighbours')

When Cas Novak moved from Chicago to the small city of Lawrence, Kansas -- he expected to experience the things he’d seen in movies. 

He’d never lived in a neighbourhood, in a suburbia like so many others he knew. He grew up in a small apartment in the heart and centre of the big city, sharing a room with his brother Gabe for a good fifteen years until he moved onto college. His everyday life featured a forever revolving door of neighbours, taking the “L” to and from school and the non-stop sound of traffic and shouts lulling him to sleep. While Gabe moving out had provided him a little more comfort in the apartment, it wasn’t enough for him to stay. 

He wanted suburbia, he wanted all the things he’d read and seen. Friendly neighbours, quiet streets and being able to drive to-and-from work. Maybe taking the “L” helped prevent the increase in fossil fuels, but driving would definitely be an improvement for his overall health and hygiene. 

So when a job came up for a lecturer at Kansas University, he didn’t hesitate to seize the opportunity. 

He supposes now that his view of suburbia was somewhat naive. It wasn’t like he was an overly positive person most of the time, as he’d learnt how cruel people could be from a young age. Being the only hearing person in a deaf family, he saw how his parents and brother were treated on a near frequent basis. From workplace discrimination to being treated as intellectually inept when out to eat, he saw the world through their eyes -- and it wasn’t a nice place. He wondered if life would be different in a suburban neighbourhood, in a city much smaller than his own. 

He moved just before the new school year, to a small housing unit quite close to the university. It was a small little home, but fairly spacious for just one resident. Cas loved it from the moment he walked in and was quick to try and make it his own. He didn’t bring everything from Chicago and still had numerous household items that he needed to acquire, so he felt that a trip to the local Walmart was necessary for his first day. 

He decided to try and meet the neighbours on his way out, especially whoever lived next door to him. Considering he lived in a housing unit, it meant that his next-door neighbour and him shared a wall. Having lived in an apartment for twenty-seven years, sharing a wall wasn’t really a problem. He figured that was about as close as you could get to a neighbour and he really wanted to make a good first impression. 

His neighbour’s porch mirrored his own, with the same front door and paned glass windows. However, the adjacent porch was much more colourful than Castiel’s, with a vibrant yellow couch and a bright blue mailbox embroidered with the word “ _WINCHESTER_ ”. It felt homely and welcoming, exactly what Cas wanted his neighbour to be. It gave him a bounce in his step as he headed up the two front steps and straight for the front door to knock. However, he noticed straight away that there was a doorbell, with a mini sign that said: “Please ring! :)”. So Castiel did as he was told and rang the doorbell a couple of times for good measure. No sound came from inside the house, not even from the doorbell. He pressed it one more time, scrutinizing it carefully as he did and concluded that the darn thing was broken. So he proceeded to knock, which led nowhere, so he came to the logical verdict that his new neighbour was not home. 

He left to get his groceries and other items which took him just over an hour. He appreciated that he was now able to drive himself to and from the grocery store, thankful for the time it saved. As he pulled into his street to return home, he saw that someone else was parked where he had just been. One of the downsides of his new place was that they didn’t have a driveway for parking and instead had to park on the street out front. Cas didn’t realise how much of a downside it was until in that moment. With a scowl, he pulled in front of the car and parked, hoping that there was enough room for him to open his trunk door. 

He jumped out and walked to the back, examining the distance and deeming it safe. The car he was parked in front of was a sleek black Chevy, definitely fitting into the category of a ‘classic car’. However, he didn’t know much more than that as he wasn’t exactly much of a car person. 

He looked up towards his house for a moment, absentmindedly calculating how many trips he’d have to make, when he saw that the neighbouring house was no longer empty. Standing in front of the mailbox, with his back to Cas, was a man. He couldn’t see his face, just his broad shoulders, the groove of his back and the black cap he wore on his head. He assumed from his build that he was a man, but didn’t want to presume without at least first introducing himself. 

He began to scurry over to his new neighbour, a childish excitement bursting through him. This was the first home he’d lived in alone, in a new city where he knew no one. The prospect of making friends, especially with his neighbours, was an all too new and exhilarating feeling for him. 

“Hello!” He called out to the man as he began to approach, wanting to make sure his neighbour knew he was heading over. The man didn’t reply however and instead shut his mailbox and headed up the front stairs. He seemed to be deeply interested in the mail he was reading, so Cas figured that he just hadn’t heard him. 

“Hello!” He repeated again, doing a slight jog so that he could get closer. This time the man had stopped reading the mail but instead of turning around, he just walked straight into his house and shut the door behind him. As it slammed closed, Cas was left standing alone in front of the house, feeling dejected. Had the man purposefully ignored him? He tried to rationalise it. Maybe he was deep in thought? He did seem focused on reading his mail. A cold feeling crept into Cas as he couldn’t help but wonder if the man _deliberately_ ignored him. He didn’t want a repeat of what he sometimes experienced in the city -- angry, belligerent people who had no compassion for anyone but themselves. Far too many of the residents that lived in his building were like that and people he met on the “L” or out-and-about on the street. He had hoped things would be different here, in this idyllic college town. That was when he began to wonder if he had been too naive. 

However, he decided that before he made any hasty decisions, that he would try again some other time. That instead he would focus on moving in and settling in to his new humble abode and on another day, he would attempt another introduction. 

***

That day occurred only a few days later, when Cas returned home from signing his new employment contracts. Over the past few days, he’d learnt a little bit more about the new neighbourhood he lived in and more specifically, the neighbours. For the most part, his neighbours were college students renting various share houses together. While he was friendly with them if he passed by them, he wasn’t exactly keen on befriending them. He was about to become an assistant professor at the university and he felt that it wasn’t exactly a good idea for a professor to form a friendship with potential students. 

The only other non-college students were mostly recluses, those who weren’t exactly the friendly neighbour type that he’d envisioned. Slowly but surely, he was beginning to realise that the books and media had portrayed suburbia all wrong and that it wasn’t really all it was cracked up to be. While he vastly preferred it to city-living, as he was able to drive and walk and enjoy peaceful nights with minimal traffic -- it wasn’t the apple-pie-cookie-cutter neighbourhood that he’d grown up believing it would be. 

He’d also learnt two more pieces of information about his next-door neighbour. First, he owned the sleek, black Chevy that had stolen Castiel’s spot a few days prior. It was a loud car, always making a rumble when turned on and he found that he always knew when his neighbour was leaving or returning, just based on the noise. Second, that _said_ neighbour was probably the most attractive man that Castiel had ever stumbled across. Being a gay man, he wasn’t exactly shy in looking at guys and admiring them from afar. He wasn’t the most confident type and was a terrible flirter, but he had enough years of looking at guys that he knew what he thought of as attractive. He’d met plenty of guys that fell into the attractive category, but _damn,_ did his new neighbor jump to the top of the list. Defined cheekbones, tousled hair and a five o’clock shadow, Cas had only caught a brief glimpse of him the other day and was ready to fall to his knees and swoon. 

He got home from the university, parking in front of the Chevy. He walked straight to his little mailbox, hoping to see if his new package had arrived. When he checked the mail, he realised that none of the mail was directed to him and instead, were for his neighbour. With Cas being 31A and his neighbour being 31B, he knew that sometimes the mail carrier would be confused. Except his neighbour had WINCHESTER written boldly on his mailbox and the mail in his hands was clearly directed to a “D. Winchester”.

Knowing his neighbour was home, Cas decided that this was his opportunity to meet him. He was nervous as he walked over, wondering if the man was as nice as he looked. In the few days they’d been neighbours, Cas had barely heard a peep out of him through their shared wall. It was refreshing and definitely a nice change of pace. 

He’d heard everything back in Chicago, from arguments, to sex, to the occasional self-muttering. His new neighbour lived alone, but Cas didn’t even hear the sound of the television. Maybe this D. Winchester could turn out to be not only a good neighbour, but a good friend. 

He walked up to the door and went straight to knocking. He could hear movement from inside, very faintly so he decided to call out as well.

“Hello? Uh, I’m your new neighbour? I’m just here to bring over your mail.”

Silence.

Cas waited a moment, knocked again and continued to wait. After a couple of minutes, he realised that no one was coming. The man inside _was_ ignoring him and had no interest in the slightest of being friendly.

Feeling slightly angry and disheartened, Cas turned around and headed back home, placing his neighbour’s mail in his mailbox as one last good deed.

He decided at that point that he wasn’t going to attempt to make introductions again and instead just co-exist with his unfriendly neighbour. 

He already knew what he needed to know about D. Winchester. 

…

One year of living in his new home passed-by quicker than Cas expected it to and suddenly, it was his one year anniversary of moving in. He spent the day prepping for his second year as a professor and watching a documentary on bees. While to some that seemed like a tedious day, to Castiel -- it was practically heaven. As evening approached, he decided that he was going to celebrate by ordering Chinese.

He left at quarter to six and returned with his order thirty minutes later. He parked in his usual spot, which for the last eight months was now _behind_ his neighbour’s Chevy, and looked into his front yard to see two men arguing.

One of them was D. Winchester, who Cas rarely saw nowadays. He always left before Cas left for class and always arrived home before him. Most of the time, all he saw was a quick glance but not nearly enough of a sight for him to admire. But right now he was out in their shared front yard and he could see _everything._ From the crease of his frowning forehead to the soft pink of his lips. Cas could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. Goddammit, why did this guy have to be so damn attractive?

He got out of the car and began to head inside, planning to ignore whatever was going on. That was until he noticed three things. One, that his neighbour was shaking his head repeatedly and pointing to his ears. Second, that he had his phone open on a notes app and was shoving it towards the enraged stranger, who was refusing to take it. Three, the neighbour making eye contact with him and sending him a look of clear desperation.

With all of those combined, Cas came to a halting realisation.

_Oh shit._

He immediately walked over to the pair, catching the end of the stranger’s statement.

“... Need. You. To. Move. Your. Car.” The man spoke insultingly slowly, waving his hands as if he were pushing something. His neighbour looked offended, glaring at the guy in front of him and Cas couldn’t blame him. He was five seconds into this conversation and he was about ready to clock the man.

“Do you know this guy?” The stranger snapped, turning his attention to Cas. “He doesn’t understand that I need him to move his car from in front of my driveway.”

Cas looked over to the house he presumed the man lived in, where the Chevy was parked only slightly in front of the edge of the driveway. There was a SUV in the driveway and he could see from there that was more than enough room for it to reverse out. If he hadn’t already hated this guy for his ignorant and insensitive behaviour, he would’ve hated him then after seeing how ridiculous the entire confrontation was. 

Cas moved the plastic bag full of food to his wrist, so that his hands were free. 

“He’s deaf,” He growled out, signing the words at the same time. The man narrowed his eyes, whereas his neighbour’s lit up. “He’s trying to communicate to you with his phone. But you are ignoring him and instead being disrespectful and offensive.” 

The stranger had the decency to look slightly guilty and immediately closed his mouth on whatever retort he had originally planned. Cas turned his attention to his neighbour, who looked a lot calmer.

 _“Are you okay?”_ Castiel asked. He nodded in reply.

 _“This idiot -”_ Castiel placed his hand up to his forehead to sign ‘idiot’ which caused his neighbour to grin. _“- would like you to reverse your car so he can drive out.”_

The neighbour tapped the side of his head with a smirk, _“I know. I just wanted to annoy him. He obviously knew I was deaf but didn’t want to communicate with me. So, I pretended I couldn’t understand, until he tried again.”_

It was then Castiel’s turn to smile. 

_“Sorry for ruining that for you.”_

_“You’re fine,”_ He signed. _“Thanks for helping me. I’ll go move my car now before this guy explodes.”_

They both chuckled whereas the man seemed irritated that he couldn’t understand. But fortunately, he stormed back to his SUV without another word. With a salute, his neighbour headed to reverse the Chevy, leaving Castiel alone with his food and thoughts. As he stood in the yard, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of guilt crash down on him. Suddenly, his first interactions with his neighbour made sense and he couldn’t help but realise how much of an asshole he was. Of course he wouldn’t have heard Castiel’s calls, or the knocks on the door. Of course his doorbell made no sound, it was most likely a flashing doorbell. He began to put the pieces together and the more he connected the dots, the worse he felt. 

He’d grown up in a Deaf family, learnt how to sign his name before he could even say it, witnessed the exclusion and discrimination his family fought everyday. He was an assistant professor of American Sign Language, he worked everyday alongside a Deaf professor to teach an entire course on ASL and Deaf culture. His entire world revolved advocating for those who were deaf and promoting ASL in every way that he could. Yet, he didn’t even realise that his next-door neighbour was deaf and instead, shunned him. 

His neighbour returning snapped Castiel out of his thoughts. 

_“Thanks again.”_ The neighbour signed. _“I’m lucky you knew ASL.”_

 _“You’re welcome,”_ Cas replied. _“Perks of growing up in a Deaf family.”_

Cas watched as curiosity shone in the man’s gaze, but fortunately he decided not to pry. 

_“What’s your name?”_ His neighbour asked. 

_“My name is C-A-S,”_ He signed, fingerspelling his name before adding the sign name his parents gave him. It was the sign for cat, but with the starting hand position as a ‘C’. The man grinned. 

_“Cat?”_

Cas rolled his eyes. _“My mom has said there are lots of reasons for my sign name, far too many. Too long for me to list. What’s your name?”_

 _“My name is D-E-A-N.”_ The man responded.

 _Dean Winchester,_ his brain supplied. 

He watched as Dean did his own sign name, which was the letter ‘D’ moved from the left of his chest to the right. 

_“It’s nice to meet you, Dean.”_ Cas said. 

Dean grinned. _“It’s nice to meet you too, Cas.”_

Cas couldn’t believe that after a full year, he was finally having the “meet-your-neighbour” conversation, the one he could’ve had a year ago, if he had paid more attention. Looking at Dean, he decided not to tell him about his slight hiccup a year ago. At least, not now. Instead, he was going to offer a peace offering.

 _“You hungry?”_ He asked, holding up the Chinese food. _“There is too much food for me to eat alone.”_

Dean’s eyes widened. 

_“Really? You want to share your food with a stranger?”_

Cas shrugged. _“We’re neighbours. And you aren’t a stranger anymore now that we’ve met. So, you in?”_

 _“Hell yeah!”_ He signed enthusiastically. _“We’re eating at mine though. Unless you’ve got a new case of beer in your fridge?.”_

When Cas stated that he did _not_ have a new case of beer, the location of their dinner was settled. He followed Dean across the yard and up the stairs and watched as he unlocked the door, opening it wide and letting Cas in for the first time. 

They sat down in the living room to eat, each with a beer in hand. They paused their eating intermittently to sign, learning bits and pieces about each other. Cas told Dean about his job and a bit about his family, how he and his brother were adopted as a sibling group. He talked about Gabe, who also was Deaf but was able to hear through the use of a Cochlear Implant. Their parents were both profoundly Deaf, like Dean. He watched intently as Dean told the story about becoming Deaf at a young age after contracting meningitis. The rest of his family were hearing but had learnt sign language from their neighbour, Missouri, who was also profoundly Deaf. It was her that had given Dean his sign name and the one that had enabled him to be integrated into the Deaf culture. 

They packed up the food after they finished eating, putting it all into the trash can in Dean’s kitchen. Dean ended up shoving Cas away at some point, signing:

_“You brought the food, I’ll clean up.”_

So Cas did as he was told and wandered around in the living room, looking at the various pictures and items Dean had. He saw pictures of him with his family, graduation pictures from school, pictures of him with his car, which he now knew was a 1967 Chevrolet Impala that Dean called ‘Baby’. He glanced over everything with a soft fondness, until he laid eyes on one of the photographs by the staircase. 

Dean stood smiling at the camera, dressed in a plain blue shirt and denim jeans. He had sunglasses on and his usual black cap (the one that Cas had seen him wearing numerous times now). However, it wasn’t how attractive he looked in the photo that made Cas stop (because he _did_ look too damn good) -- it was the fact that Dean was holding up the bisexual pride flag. 

He barely had time to register it before Dean came back into the room, stopping when he saw what Cas was looking at.

 _“You’re bi?”_ Cas asked and his heart clenched when he saw all the colour drain from Dean’s face. The man took a moment, masking his face into a tense stoicness, before he replied. 

_“Yes I am.”_ He replied. _“Is that a problem?”_

Cas instantly shook his head, a small smile forming on his face. 

_“No, not at all.”_ He reassured Dean, causing the man’s shoulders to sag in relief. He turned back to the photo of Dean, looking out and pride in the photo, and decided to take a leap of faith. 

_“I’m gay.”_ He told Dean, pressing his thumb and index finger to his chin. While he was out to his family and friends back home in Chicago, he hadn’t come out to anyone in Lawrence. He didn’t have many friends there, only a few acquaintances from the university. And with Kansas sometimes not being the most accepting of places, he wanted to feel comfortable with whoever he told. And here was Dean, the man he’d only really known for a couple of hours, who he’d felt the most comfortable with since moving. 

Dean grinned, the earlier tension in his features completely erased. 

_“Good.”_ He signed. 

Cas furrowed his eyebrows.

 _“Why good?”_ He asked. 

_“Because a man as handsome as you has no right being straight.”_

Cas felt as the blood flooded his face which made Dean almost crumble in a laughing fit. He had no idea what he looked like, but he knew that his head must’ve definitely resembled a plump tomato. They stood like that for a few moments, until Cas got his face looking relatively back to normal and Dean was able to calm down. Dean then told Cas to head into the living room so that he could grab dessert. 

_“Dessert?”_ He asked Dean. _“How do you have dessert? You didn’t know I was coming over.”_

Dean just shooed him onto the couch, before disappearing into the kitchen. A minute later, he returned with a brown box and two forks. 

_“Because I always buy myself pie for dessert.”_ Dean answered Cas’ question with a grin. _“And after you bought me dinner, I can’t let you leave without returning the favour.”_

Dean opened the lid and Cas could tell immediately from the wafting sense that it was an apple pie. The two of them had a couple of bites of it, enjoying the pleasant taste on their tongues before they began another conversation. Well, before _Dean_ did. 

_“So, when did you know you were gay?”_ He asked, causing Cas to choke on his mouthful. Dean smiled smugly. 

_“Years ago.”_ Cas signed while attempting to swallow his food. _“I think I was about twelve.”_

_“How old are you now?”_

_“Twenty-eight.”_

_“Old.”_

Cas narrowed his eyes. 

_“How old are you?”_

_“Twenty-six.”_

_“Baby.”_

Dean scowled while Cas just grinned. 

_“Did you come out recently?”_ Dean questioned, diverting back to the original subject. _“You just seemed… reluctant to tell me.”_

Cas shook his head. _“No. My family has known for years. I just haven’t told anyone here in Lawrence. I don’t have many friends.”_

_“How long have you been here? I know it’s been a while.”_

_“One year… today.”_ Cas said causing Dean’s eyebrows to shoot up.

_“One year?! And I’m the first person you told?”_

Cas shrugged sheepishly, _“Yes? It’s strange but you’re the first person I’ve trusted to tell since I got here. I know we just met but it seemed out of all the people I know, you would understand best.”_

Dean’s eyes gleamed with fondness as he smiled softly. _“Yes… I do.”_

They went on to finish half the pie, with Dean chatting away about his friends. He promised to introduce Cas to his circle of friends, most of whom he’d known growing up. According to Dean, he’d been “out and proud” since Junior High and was no longer worried about the bigots that may or may not reside in parts of Lawrence. Cas wished he had Dean’s confidence, because those bigots were one of the biggest things Castiel found himself worrying about. 

After Dean put the pie away, Cas decided that it was best for him to go. Dean walked him to the door, standing on the threshold as he said his goodbyes. 

_“It was really nice to meet you.”_ Dean signed. _“I had a great time tonight.”_

 _“Me too.”_ Cas responded. _“But next time, you buy.”_

Dean chuckled silently, his eyes bright even under the dim porch light. _“There’s going to be a next time?”_

Cas blushed. _“Yes, if that’s okay? I’d like to hangout again.”_

Dean rolled his eyes, _“Of course it’s okay. I would love to hang out again.”_

Feeling settled and content, Cas took that as his opportunity to leave. 

_“I’ll see you around.”_ He said. _“Goodnight Dean.”_

_“Goodnight Cas.”_

He headed down the stairs and towards his own house, but only got a few steps before something stopped him. 

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

He instantly turned around to see the palm of Dean’s hand flat against his door, the man obviously having banged it to get Cas’ attention. 

_“How about making it a date?”_ Dean asked before Cas could sign anything. Cas felt the smile form on his face before he could stop it and almost melted into a puddle right there and then. 

When Cas went to sleep that night, he had a cute boy’s phone number and a date for Friday night. It surprised him how quickly everything had switched on him. How that morning, he’d believed that his neighbour was a self-centred asshole. And now? Cas just hoped he’d catch a glimpse of him when he woke up. 

He made the resolute decision that he wasn’t going to tell Dean about the initial misunderstanding and the year of fun they could’ve had if Cas hadn’t been such a dumbass. He figured some secrets were better kept hidden. 

...

He ended up telling him years later, but at that point, his husband was too concerned with using it as leverage to even care. 

**Author's Note:**

> if you are interested in Destiel and wanna chat to others in the fandom, consider joining the PB discord server! (18+) https://discord.gg/profoundbond


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